Sunday, January 16, 2011

The Plan, Should There Happen To Be One,

is to make a new lap quilt. The old one is dated 1984, and it’s getting a little grubby.

This is the fabric I’m using:

Most of it is a collection of quarter yards purchased in a bundle at Schoolhouse Fabrics in Floyd, Virginia, in 2002. Yep. This is fabric in its prime.

Since I can’t decide on one block, er, am flexible in my choices, er, prefer to be spontaneous, er, like variety, er, am a Crackpot, er, don’t have a plan, it will be a sampler quilt.

I haven’t done any serious piecing in a while so I decided to go back to the old standby–Marsha McCloskey’s Block Party. This means that however many blocks get done will be nine-inch blocks. To make it easy to get started, I decided to group my fabric into sets of three, with varying colors and values. Then I looked for blocks that used just three colors. I eliminated all the blocks that called for measurements of 1/16 inch (indicated in the book as +) because my rulers don’t have that marking.

My first block was Ohio Star, and here it is:

The second block was Perpetual Motion, and here it is:

My third block is Weather Vane, and here it is:

So now you can see the three light pieces of “background” fabric I have. They’re not extremely light, and the value differences within this set of fabrics is somewhat limited. Because of that and because each fabric has either more than one color or a variety of values, the divisions between the pieces in each block don’t stand out. I like it that way. It’s mellow.

Now, what shall I make for the next one? Get out your Block Party book (I know you have one) and make some suggestions.

Wow so many decisions to make! Now I see why quilting could become so addictive. These fabrics and beautiful and the way you combined them is just stunning. I think the Ohio Star looks like a marble tile. Can't wait to see your next blocks and then to see them all put together--its going to be gorgeous!